Apocalypse 17
by TotallyNotMickeyMouse
Summary: Danny, Ethan and Madison belong to ChaosFlash912. It all started for Ethan Gold when a ill woman stumbled into a bar, and turned into a bloodthirsty beast. He met Abe and Rosita, and now must go out into the world, facing a nightmare that has become reality. And it's a rather personal one...
1. Pilot

(A/N: Huge shoutout to ChaosFlash912, who is working with me on this story. Enjoy :3)

Abraham swung his rusty, worn-out axe into the walker's skull, shattering it in two. Rosita stood behind him, scratching her chin.

"Abe, I just don't get it," she muttered, "Where did these things come from?"

Abraham looked back at the wave of mindless creatures approaching. "I don't know, Rosita, but one thing's for sure. We have to run."

Rosita rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Captain Obvious." The duo picked up their stuff, and started jogging west at a slow pace.

Abe gestured towards the forest, and Rosita nodded.

Then, there was a sudden rustling of bushes, and Abe freezed, pulling out his gun.

"Stand back," he ordered.

Rosita did so, setting her bag of supplies down. What Abe would see was a man who looked mid 20s, brown hair neatly combed with a dirty, long green shirt, blue jeans and black shoes walk towards him. He didn't look like the walkers, and had a professional demeanor about him.

"No need to shoot, sir." He commented.

Rosita made a face, clearly unhappy with the man's presence. "Who are you?" she questioned.

"Ethan." The man told her. "And I'm just wondering what the hell my old man was thinking…" He added that last part to himself in a low mumble.

Abe stepped towards him. "You mean…..the walkers?" Rosita sighed.

"Abe, he clearly this guy doesn't know what in the world you're talking about." The two glanced back at Ethan.

Ethan shook his head. "Look, I think I can help you. All I need to know is that you can trust me."

Rosita closely examined Ethan. "Unbutton your shirt for me." Ethan did so without question.

"I would have advised doing this somewhere away from these things, but whatever floats your boat." No scratches or anything that would have shown he was infected was present on his person.

Rosita rolled her eyes, and looked at Abe. "So?"

"Well," Abe spoke gruffly, "he looks OK."

Rosita walked back to him, giving him a quick hug.

"Ethan," Rosita questioned, "one question. Why were you stumbling through the woods like a drunk man?"

"It's not what it looks like…" He shook his head.

"You said something about your old man…." Rosita narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, I did. My dad. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Ethan responded, staying calm.

 _6 hours earlier…_

We would cut to the interior of a mid-class bar, a man with fair skin and black hair standing behind said bar. He was wearing a blue dress shirt, black slacks and similar colored dress shoes. He was using a worn rag to clean a shot glass at the time. Ethan walked in and sat at one of the stools, the wood painted mahogany.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?" The bartender asked.

"Just get me a tequila. Nothing too fancy." Ethan requested.

"Sure thing." The bartender then got to work making one, doing all sorts of tricks mixing the drink up. "Sorry, it's a force of habit."

"No need to apologize." Ethan reassured.

All of a sudden, a black-haired woman stumbled in. "Uhg…Where's a damn bathroom when you need one?"

The bartender pointed to where the bathrooms were to the woman.

She bolted towards the door, crawling in.

"Hey, buddy...I'd be on guard if I were you." Ethan warned.

"Why's that?" The bartender asked. Ethan looked around and said to the bartender,

"Listen buddy. I may not look like a smart guy to you, but she just seemed a bit...off."

"Really? Off as in how?" The black haired man looked a little concerned.

A retching noise was heard from behind the door. Both men winced upon hearing the noise.

The woman screamed out, likely in pain, startling them both. And they were, though Ethan motioned to the bartender to get something. Ethan already was holding the barstool he was sitting in as an improvised weapon.

"What's that for?" The bartender asked.

"You'll see in 3...2...1…" Ethan grimaced, but kept his cool.

The door creaked open, and an arm blasted through the doorframe, frightening the bartender.

"What in the hell!?" He shouted. "What is that?"

"It sure ain't friendly." Ethan bluntly informed, slowly moving towards the door. The bartender quickly ducked behind the bar, seeming to be grabbing for something…

The bartender jumped a bit as the ill woman wrecked the door, pulling it out of its hinges. She stood up, and the men saw that her face was shriveled and bruised.

"Yup, definitely not friendly!" The bartender suddenly agreed, shakily holding a handgun. Ethan wasted no time swinging the barstool at the ill woman's head.

She stumbled, a bit stunned, but immediately continued rushing towards Ethan.

"Aim for the head!" Ethan shouted, pushing her back with the barstool, which was now damaged from the attack. The bartender didn't need to be told twice as he took the safety off and shot at the ill woman twice.

One bullet strayed, going towards an abandoned bottle of whiskey on a stool. The other went straight through the woman's neck. However, it didn't disturb her even the slightest bit. She growled, sharply turning, and lunged at the black haired man, grabbing hold of him. Ethan spotted the now broken bottle, grabbing hold of the top half and jamming it in the ill woman's head. He didn't want to deal with two of these...things.

The woman made an odd gurgling noise, blood spurting out of her mouth. Ethan shoved her to the floor. The two waited a few minutes, and the woman made no sign of activity.

"W-What just…" The bartender, a bit of the mouth blood staining his shirt.

"Look, that was not human. What we need to do now is get out of here. Are there any weapons stashed here?" Ethan inquired. "And uh...name's Ethan."

"Danny...and I think we have some in the office." The black haired man responded. Danny led Ethan to the back room, where both men found a stash of a few handguns, a shotgun, and a couple things of ammo stashed there. "Hey Ethan...how do you know what to do?"

"I've been in this kinda situation before, Danny." He explained. 'Thanks a lot, Dad.' Ethan thought to himself. 'I'm so gonna hurt you if I find out you're responsible.' With that, he grabbed a handgun and put a thing of extra rounds in his shirt pocket. Danny did so as well, except he put two in his slacks' pockets.

"We're going out the back, right?" Danny asked, still shaken up from all this.

"That's the only way." So with that, the two men left the bar, exiting out through the back and through a forested area out of the back entrance.

 _Present time…_

"And that's what happened. Danny should be around here somewhere." Ethan concluded his explanation.

Rosita frowned at him. Abe just glanced back at the walkers, the pack just yards away. Ethan handed Abe the extra ammo he still had.

"I trust you're a better shot than me." He said.

Suddenly, Rosita pulled out her pistol, aiming at Ethan's head and firing, sending a puff of smoke out. Then, she and Abe collapsed with laughter upon seeing his expression.

Which was rather confused. "Uh...lady? You alright?"

"Man," Abe chuckled, "you should've seen your face."

Rosita worriedly looked over her shoulder. "We should go.."

Abe and Ethan then also looked at the horde of walkers.

"Follow me. I spotted another path back the way I came. Maybe it'll lead us somewhere safe." Ethan told the two. "And hopefully we'll run into Dan again…" Ethan seemed to have taken a liking to shortening Danny's name down.

"Where did he go anyway?" Abe questioned.

Ethan looked at Abe and answered, "Well, he went down that path saying it lead to one of his usual after work haunts."

Rosita and Abe trotted over to the path.

"C'mon, business man, get a move on." Rosita stated. Ethan trudged along, keeping pace with both Abe and Rosita.

"This path looks untrustworthy." Abe muttered.


	2. Paths

Abe, Rosita and Ethan took off down the dirt path towards where Danny had gone.

"He should be down the road here…" Ethan mused. Both Rosita and Abe glanced down the path.

"Y'know, I'm starting to agree with Abe," Rosita spoke up, "this path looks like something bad has happened here. Look at the trees."

The trees all had the same carved **Z** etched into the bark. Abe muttered something under his breath.

"I really hope those walkers didn't get to him." Ethan frowned. "He said something about knowing this friendly lady at a department store, claiming that it was down this way."

"Pfft. Can't find many friendly people nowadays." Rosita scoffed.

Abe froze in his tracks, raising his rifle. "What was that?" Ethan had his handgun ready.

"That better be Danny…" He hoped.

A growl was heard from behind the bushes. Rosita clutched a sword closely to her chest, ready to swing any moment. Ethan was also at the ready, his aim rather focused.

A arm appeared above the rough leafage, before a zombified man popped out. He growled, and stumbled over the bush. Ethan wasted no time shooting once at the zombie's head.

The walker stumbled, and collapsed in a heap on top of Rosita. She screamed as it grabbed her hair, pushing itself up.

Ethan told Abe, "Let's get that thing off her!" He reached for one of the hands and yanked. The walker flipped over on its back, but Rosita was still trapped under its weight. With that, Ethan pushed it off of her and shot at it again.

The walker lay still, and Abe helped Rosita up. "Any bites?"

Rosita wheezed. "No, no." Abe looked slightly dissatisfied.

"With all these zombies around, I'm wondering how Danny managed to get past." Ethan wondered aloud.

"What did you just call them?" Rosita asked. "They're walkers. Zombies are so cliche."

"Ugh, force of habit." Ethan apologized.

A shout was heard further down the path. Rosita looked at Ethan. "Is that…."

"Dammit…" Ethan raced down the path, seeing Danny fleeing from an oncoming walker.

All three re-aimed their weapons. Danny got out of their way, allowing them to shoot, stab, whatever at that walker.

In 5 seconds, the walker was down, and Danny was on the ground, panting.

"Ethan, oh my God, this just…" The bartender panted.

"This just isn't your day?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's a shame."

"Dude," Abe hollered, "What were you thinking?"

"Shh!" hissed Rosita. "They'll hear us."

"I thought that my friend would be there, but she told me to go before they came." Danny explained in a hushed voice tone. "And now the place is probably overrun."

"Well...that's just life." Ethan sighed in the same voice tone.

Rosita glared daggers at Ethan. "No man left behind."

"I was being sarcastic." Ethan countered. "Get up, Dan. We're going to get your buddy."

Rosita pulled Ethan ahead. "I don't like your attitude, mister." She hissed. With that, she shoved him forward. The two led the way there, Ethan taking point and Danny staying behind.

"Who's your little friend anyway?" Abe questioned. "A girlfriend?"

"More like a...yeah…" Danny responded. "Her name's Madison."

Rosita rolled her eyes. "Great, another girl afraid to get her hands dirty. Just what I needed."

"She better not be reluctant to fight." Ethan muttered to himself.

Rosita and Ethan were both a bit grumpy now, and completely zoned out.

Out of nowhere, a small girl showed up on the path.

"Hello?" she called. "Anyone?"

Ethan and Danny heard the voice, and looked at Abe. "Well?" The latter of the two asked.

Rosita shook her head, while Abe sighed. "Is this her?"

"No, Madison's at least 21." Danny responded.

"Well, who's this then?" Rosita wondered, walking up to the girl. "Wait...this is a teenager…"

The girl looked down shyly. "Hello…."

"Hey kiddo. Where's your parents?" The bartender inquired.

"Well, my mom's dead," The girl replied coldly, "And my dad's at the farm, with Maggie."

"Who's Maggie?" Rosita questioned.

"My sister," The blonde-haired girl informed, "Well, half-sister."

"Sorry about your mother, little girl." Danny sympathized.

The girl jerked forward, shoving Danny. "I'm not a little girl!" she screamed.

"Hey, he didn't know." Ethan defended. "We'd be more than happy to help you get back with Maggie and your dad, alright?"

"They sent me out here. Y'know, to look for 'recruits'. Ugh." she replied.

Rosita smirked. "I like this chick." The girl grinned.

The girl's gaze hardened upon returning to Danny and Ethan. "Who are you?"

"Name's Ethan Gold." Ethan told her.

"Danny Scotch. I am...well, was a bartender in town, but now with this whole thing going on, I uh...you get the idea." Danny added.

"Rosita Espinosa." Rosita chuckled, then pointing at Abe. "And that's my dude, Abe Ford."

"Beth." The girl looked down. "Beth Greene. You know Maggie, and my dad is Hershel."

"Good to know. We were on our way to find Dan's girlfriend, Madison. Care to help us out?" Ethan asked.

Beth shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Alright. Danny, what store was Madison in?" Ethan inquired.

"She's actually a model...I'll let you put the pieces together." The bartender responded.

Abe whistled. "Of course, you went for the hot model. Big surprise." Both Rosita and Beth giggled at this. Ethan just smirked at this.

"She's not all about showing skin, guys." Danny defended. "Madison's actually a nice girl."

"Okay then." Rosita laughed. "Let's go find her."

Beth pranced ahead of the group, while the others marched at a moderate pace. Abe patted Danny on the back, smirking, then whispered in his ear, "We don't blame ya."

"Thanks for that." He responded.

A gray-black building came into view.

"Wait," Rosita froze, "why is this in the middle of the woods?"

Ethan was quiet, looking over the structure of the building. For some reason, he felt like he knows of this place...but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Something on your mind, Ethan?" Danny wondered.

"I feel like I've seen this place before…" Ethan told the group. "I don't know why…"

"You're probably just thinking things." The bartender shrugged.

"Whatever it is, it's creepy as hell." Beth muttered.

"Abe? Got any idea if we should go in or not?" Ethan wondered.

"Eh, just go for it." Abe gruffly replied.

So with that, Ethan entered first, slowly mind you.

All of a sudden, something grabbed his arm from behind.

And Danny would grab the something and pry it off Ethan.

A blue bracelet dropped to the floor, clattering.

"What's this?" The bartender picked up the bracelet, examining it, as Ethan looked around for a light switch.

"It's mine, you silly goose." A voice replied from the darkness.

"Oh, sorry." Danny apologized.

"Well, at least you didn't have to find my corpse on the floor." the woman replied, taking the bracelet.

"Yeah, thank goodness for that." Danny mused. Ethan finally found a light switch and flicked it on.

Madison appeared, fully dressed in purple. Rosita rolled her eyes in disgust. Well, not exactly fully dressed in purple. Her blonde hair had a noticeable purple streak in it, and her top was the same color, but it was covered up by a denim jean jacket, and she also had on a yellow skirt with black leggings and wore white running shoes, which were rather out of place.

"Oh thank God we found you." Danny was relieved. "Wait, weren't you at the store?"

"Well I was, but then I had to get my stuff together and run, since those monsters were coming in. I grabbed these running shoes and bolted out the back." Madison explained.

"I wish they could've just gotten her," Rosita muttered to herself, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"What? Why?" Madison asked, a little offended.

Rosita quickly covered up, "Oh no...I was talking about..her." She pointed at Beth.

Beth showed no sign of offense, knowing what it was about. Meanwhile, Ethan was rummaging through some of the desks, looking for any sign of people being here. He soon stumbled across a peculiar folder marked in black sharpie as 'Research Notes' and began reading through them.

"What's that?" Abe asked.

Rosita snatched a few papers. "Um…"

If Rosita would look at one paper in particular, she would see the name 'Stephen Gold' on the bottom of it.

"Ethan, what's your last name again?" Rosita asked.

"It's Gold. Why?" He inquired.

"Is your father's name Stephen?" He nodded, then asked,

"How much you wanna bet he's been here this past week?"

She shoved the paper in his face. "Shut it, silly boy."

Ethan's eyes widened, visibly. "Oh for the love of...I knew it…" He sighed deeply.

"Is your father a madman or something?" Rosita asked.

Ethan didn't say anything for a few seconds, but responded. "My father is...was...one of the higher ups of a rather notorious group known as Umbrella. When the US Government shut them down due to their experiments, he took their notes and ran off to keep working. Hell, that's what some others did, and I bet you he's still working with those few."

"So, he's been here before? And you?" Beth inquired.

"He left me and my mother to work for Umbrella, and she had to work overtime to pay for all the bare necessities. And when I found out about their atrocious deeds? You know what I did?" Ethan asked. Danny and Madison sure did. "I had to resort to a life of crime to pay for myself. I became a con-man, but I only robbed people that were criminals themselves. I conned lowlives and scumbags for a living. And it hurt."

Everyone was silent for a minute.

"Wow," Beth whispered, "I'm sorry…"

"On that day I found out, I made it my life mission to find him, and find out why he did all this." The con-man told them. "And I still haven't had much luck, but maybe now I might be able to."

"If we find him…" Rosita fired another blank, startling Madison and Beth.

"Yeah. I was thinking the same thing." Ethan agreed.

"Horrible." Abe muttered.

Danny nodded in agreement, Madison just letting out a deep sigh.

"You knew you'd have to tell us eventually, right Ethan?" The bartender wondered.

"From the second that lady became one of those walkers, I knew that I couldn't hide it." Ethan frowned. "For now, let's just take these notes, and find Maggie's dad. I'll look them over and see if I can't find any info on my father."

"I told you, we have to go to the farm." Beth sighed.

"Then let's go to this farm." Madison agreed. "I'm curious as to what Ethan can find with those notes."

"And it'll be much safer there." Danny assumed.

"Well, I'll lead the way." Beth stated, gesturing to a path leading down into another set of trees. And the group would follow Beth down said path.

"Well, let's just hope we don't run into any spooks." Abe chuckled.


	3. Blood in the Water

The group of 6 trudged along the rocky, muddy path that was etched amongst the trees.

"Papa made this path a while back, before I was born," Beth stated, whilst pointing to a small hole, "and we used to get worms from there, but now that's where we burn the walkers."

Rosita looked over at Madison, eyes narrowed to little slits.

Abe whispered in her ear, "What do you have against her?"  
Rosita hissed back, "Just look at her. So arrogant, so.."

Madison's head flicked around, eyes locking with Rosita. She made a face at the latter, before looking back at Beth.

"Be careful here, the boards break a lot," Beth noted, as the group came to a small bridge over a creek, "it's quite old. One at a time."

Abe went first, followed by Rosita. Danny and Ethan were next. As Madison started crossing over, the bridge began to creak. A board popped out of place, then another, then another.

Madison quickly hurried over, followed by Beth.

"Hey! Wait up!" a voice hollered.

Everyone turned to see a man who seemed to be in his early 20's, along with a woman of the same age, holding his hand. Both were running towards the bridge.

"Hey," Abe hollered, "slow down!"

"Stop!" Beth screamed.

The two had picked up a lot of speed, and were quickly crossing over the creaky planks, when the woman tripped, falling face-first. The bridge crumbled, and the two plummeted into the cold water.

"You alright?" Ethan called.

His and everyone else's ears were greeted with screams. Beth ran over to see, and put her hand to her mouth. The other 5 rushed over, and Madison screamed in horror.

About 10 or so walkers had swarmed the couple, and were surrounding the man, who was nowhere to be seen. The woman was trying to climb up the wall of dirt, her face streaked with tears. Her shirt had 'Isabella' etched into it, and was caked with mud.

"Adam!" she shrieked.

Ethan and Danny pulled out their weapons, sending rapid fire at the were all down in about a minute.

When Abe called to the woman, who had fallen to the ground, she merely whimpered, pointing to her friend.

Madison was heaving, and Beth was weakly looking into the distance.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Abe consoled her, "I'm sorry for your loss."

She stood up, and out of nowhere, let out a deafening scream, and collapsed.

Danny fired at the ground. "There was a live one," he claimed, pointing at the woman's ankle, where a walker had clamped its teeth on her.

Madison let out a sob, while Danny held her close.

"C'mon," Rosita stammered, "let's go."

"But...the people," Madison whimpered, "they're de-"

"Now," Rosita demanded, "get up."

Madison was helped to her feet by Danny, both her and Beth wiping away tears.

Beth led the way, until they reached a grassy clearing. "Here we are. Home."

An old man with a white goatee and hair stood on the porch, holding a can of beer and waving, while a fair-skinned girl with brown hair pulled back in a bun appeared in the window, wearing an apron and holding a butcher's knife.

"Looks like Maggie's making dinner," Beth laughed, "I bet it's beef stew."

They walked up to the porch, where the older man introduced himself. "I'm Hershel Greene," he stated, shaking hands with Ethan, "pleasure to meet you."

"Thanks," Ethan smiled, "you too. I assume you know what's going on?"

"Hell yes," Hershel muttered, "it started a few days ago, and I was one of the first to know about it."

"Oh really?" Ethan asked, "I found out about this crap today."

"Yeah," Hershel sighed, "lotta people have fallen, risen, fallen again."

Beth took Madison and Rosita inside, while Abe and Danny went to get some beers.

"So," Hershel questioned, "whom is your group?"

"Well, I'm Ethan Gold, Abe and Danny are over at the cooler, and Madison and Rosita are with your daughters."

"Well," Hershel chuckled, "seems like we got a solid group of troopers.  
Ethan nodded. "Yes indeed."

An hour later, the group was at the dinner table, which had platters of pork, chicken, buttered rolls and green beans, and a chocolate cake was in the oven.  
Hershel led a small prayer, "Dear lord, we'd like to thank you for this meal in front of us, for letting us survive another day. We'd also like to thank you for bringing us these new friends, making us a strong group of 8, and hopefully that number will continue to grow. Amen." He looked up. "And now, enjoy the meal."

Everyone piled their plates high, and mingled. There was lots of laughter and smiles, and everyone's minds were taken off the current situation. After everyone had filled themselves, they headed off to bed. Hershel, Beth and Maggie remained in their rooms. Abe and Rosita slept in the spare bedroom. Danny and Madison slept on the pullout couch, and Ethan snoozed on the air bed.

At approximately 3 in the morning, Hershel was seated on the porch, reading a book, when 3 shadowy figures approached him.

"Hello?" he called out. This woke Madison and Danny, who also came out onto the porch.

The figures got closer, and Danny put his hand to the handgun in his back pocket.

Upon closer inspection, there was a tall, brown-haired man, a young boy who looked similar, and an African-American woman with dreadlocks, who also had something slung across her back.

"Hello there," the man spoke, "I'm Rick Grimes. And I come in peace." His voice had a bit of a Southern accent to it. "This is my son, Carl."

"And I'm Michonne." the woman said with a bit of a harsh tone.

Both Rick and Carl jumped a bit.

"Jeez," Rick breathed, "how long have you been behind us?"

"About 5 miles." Michonne informed.

From the porch, Danny chuckled softly. The door creaked open, and Maggie and Beth both stumbled out onto the porch, sleepy-eyed.

"Daddy, who are these people?" Beth questioned.

"Some new friends," Hershel chuckled, "better make some room in the basement."

Beth and Maggie went back inside to set up some air beds downstairs.

"So," Rick greeted, "nice to meet you."

Ethan, Abe and Rosita then filed out onto the porch stairs, sipping coffee.

"Quite the group, eh?" Rick guffawed.

"The whole lot of us," Hershel smirked.

Rosita rubbed her abdomen. "Oh god, I don't feel too well."

"Go inside and get some medicine then." Hershel suggested.

Rosita swung the door open and stepped inside, Abe lumbering right behind. Ethan took a seat on the stairs,

"So," Ethan introduced himself, "Hello. I'm Ethan Gold."

Rick nodded. "Nice to meet you."

Ethan returned the gesture.

"Feel free to come inside," Hershel invited, standing up, then vanishing into the house.

Michonne and Carl went in, while Rick wandered up to the porch. Madison looked down uncomfortably, while Danny rubbed her back.

"Couple?" Rick asked.

Danny nodded a bit, while Madison's eyes stayed rooted to her feet. She whispered something to Danny, and went inside. Danny looked down, and followed.

It was just Ethan and Rick on the porch. The latter then took a seat next to the former.

"So, what do you do for a living?" Rick questioned.

"I actually work in an office." Ethan answered, not skipping a beat.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah…" Ethan said with anod.

"Dad?" a voice called from inside.

"Oh, that's my son," Rick sighed, "be right back." He went inside, the door groaning as it closed.

Ethan glanced out onto the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise, but something was blocking it….

He narrowed his eyes, trying to find out what might be in front of him. Then he realized it. "Oh sh-" He got up, bolting inside.

"Walkers," he shouted, "At least a hundred of them!"

Beth and Maggie bolted up from the basement, Madison and Carl began sobbing, and Hershel led Rick and Danny out to the shed.

"Follow me!" Hershel hollered, "Carl, Madison, stay inside."

Beth and Maggie grabbed handguns, Danny and Ethan got weapons from their bag, and everyone else took a rifle from Hershel, and took aim on the porch.

The first walker came into view, and Beth's gun clattered to the ground.

"Ethan…" she whispered, "isn't that the man from the creek?"  
"What man?" Hershel exhaled.

"Um, there was this couple at the creek, and, they died."  
"Fire!" Danny shouted out of nowhere.

About 100 walkers were in view.

Everyone shot their first rounds, but no walkers fell.

"Why the hell aren't they going down!?" Hershel screamed.  
"You gotta shoot them- in the head!" was Ethan and Danny's response.

The latter stopped firing after he heard a weep near the window. Danny rushed inside, and saw Madison, cornered in the kitchen by about 5 walkers.

"They broke in-thro-through the back window!" she sobbed.

Danny hollered at Ethan, "Bring me a knife!"

Ethan appeared seconds later, and tossed the machete to Danny, who slashed at the walkers.

Four of them fell, but one knocked Danny over, and charged just at the hysterical Madison.

Danny hurled the machete, nailing the walker in the head, which tumbled over. He was relieved, until he heard a cry.

The knife had made a small cut on Madison's forehead when the walker had fell on top of her. It wasn't bad, but Madison was freaking out.

"Oh my god, Danny," she sobbed, "I'm dying."

"Baby...it's just a cut." He reassured her.

Gunfire was heard outside, and the glass behind Madison shattered.

"Heads down!" Abe warned. Both the bartender and model didn't need to be told twice as they kept their heads down.

Growls and shouts were heard.

"Keep going! I got one! Help! Here's one!"

Beth peeked through the window. "You guys OK?"

"Maddy's just got a little cut." Danny informed. "It's not from a walker, I swear."

"He's telling the truth!" Madison exclaimed.

"Then stop with the weeping please," Rosita put in, "you're freaking Hershel out."

"Yeah. You're tougher than this, Mad." Danny soothed. "So could you please toughen up for me?"

A stray bullet whizzed just above Danny's head.

"Sorry!" Maggie called. Rosita rushed back out to keep firing, while Beth ran upstairs to get some bandages.

"It's all good." Danny told Maggie. "C'mon, let's get you upstairs."

The others kept firing, while Beth called to Danny. "In here." She gestured to the bathroom. Some bandages were strewn across the counter.

"You sure these are sterile?" The bartender asked, walking Madison upstairs.

"Well," Beth assured, "I learned some medical stuff this year before stuff went down, so, don't worry." She tapped on the hard marble. "Well, these bandages aren't going to put themselves on, so get up here."

Danny helped Madison up on the hard marble.

Beth slowly applied some antibiotic cream to the slash, placed the bandage, and wrapped a strip of gauze diagonally over Madison's forehead. "Um..that should be good." she thought aloud. The model nodded, still a bit shaken. Danny let out a sigh.

All of a sudden, the gunfire outside came to a halt. Beth rushed downstairs.

"Daddy!" she yelled. Both the two rushed downstairs, seeing…a pile of walkers strewn about the lawn, and Beth hugging her father.

"Wow…" Both of them were clearly in awe.

"Well, we got them all." Ethan grinned. Carl poked his head out the door.

"You sure did, Ethan." Danny chuckled. "You sure did."

Carl also ran to his father, hiding his face.

"Now um...how do we make sure these things don't come back?" The model just had to ask.

"We could burn the bodies." Ethan suggested. "Or we could just bolster the defenses we have."

"Burn them." Rosita said. "We have to. Or some of them will be back again."

"Alright then." The conman then asked, "Do we have any gas or something to do that?"

"In the shed." Maggie informed. Danny went to go check the shed to see if that was indeed the case.

"Madison, what's wrong?" Hershel asked, clearly concerned.  
"I'm sorry...this is just all so new to me." She apologized. "That and I really don't feel like dying…"

"Understandable." Hershel chuckled.

"She's got a good heart, that I can see." Ethan added. "But Madison, you either adapt to survive, or just don't even bother trying. I can see you want to survive, but here's the question: Are you gonna adapt or are you gonna be a walker?"

"I...I'm gonna adapt. I promise I'll be stronger." The model answered.

"That's the kinda fire we need. Right Hershel?" Ethan inquired.

Hershel nodded, then looked at the open shed door.

"So um...is there enough fuel?" Madison wondered.

"Maybe." Hershel replied. "If Danny's still alive in there, we'll know soon enough." The bartender was indeed, having come out unharmed.

"Any fuel?" Hershel asked.

"There should be enough, but I don't think there's enough for all one hundred." He guessed. "Then again, we could use some dry stuff to tinder it…"

"Well," Beth spoke up from behind her father, "let's get to work."

"Or we could try grease! I know a secret trick from when I worked the bar to generate a lot of that." Danny said.

"Why would you want to know that?" Ethan just had to ask.

"...Good point…" The bartender responded. "But it can help, right?"

"Do we even have grease?" Beth asked her father.

"Danny. Shed." Hershel chuckled.

So Danny looked around the shed for the things he needed, and once he found them he asked, "Now can someone please show me to the stove?"

Beth pulled him inside and showed him the rusty contraption. "There's your little laboratory."

"That'll work." So with that, Danny got it working and began using his secret trick to generate grease, being sure to scrape the grease off and into containers for the fire.

Meanwhile, Rosita was a bit irritated with Madison. And Madison wondered,

"What did I ever do to you?"

Rosita sighed. "Nothing, just, you...kinda overreacted."

"What, you don't think people who have never been in this kind of thing don't?" Madison defended.

"Well, neither have I." Rosita growled. "None of us have."

"Then you wouldn't know." Madison pointed out. "You don't know how other people have it, but that doesn't mean I look at the others who know what this is like and turn the other way."

Rosita grumbled, and pulled her arm back. Madison put her hands up, not trying to offend Rosita.

Now Abe was glaring at Madison, and Rosita was stepping forward.

"I didn't want to offend you guys." She apologized.

Rosita grabbed Madison by the arm. "You don't know what I've been through..one more thing like this...and…I don't even know."

"Hey guys, I got all the grease we could need for this!" Danny's voice suddenly called. This startled Rosita, causing her to accidentally pop Madison in the nose. "Yeah, impressive I-" He then saw this. "Uh…"

Rosita put her hands up. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

"Yeah. It was an accident." Madison assured Danny.

"Oh, okay. So uh, ready to burn these things?" The bartender was a bit hesitant to say that second part…

"I guess." Hershel said, a bit stunned. So with that, the walker bodies got all set up as Danny began pouring the grease on them, a little disturbed with what he was doing, but Ethan urged him on.

Flames shot into the air, startling everyone a bit.

"...Think that was a bit too much?" Danny asked.

"Maybe." Ethan shrugged.

"Probably." Hershel chuckled.

Abe tapped Rosita on the shoulder, and pointed at Madison.

Rosita looked over at Madison, unsure what to say. Madison just stared on ahead, thinking about what Ethan said to her earlier.

Beth started singing randomly, catching everyone's attention.

"She's a pretty damn good singer." Hershel whispered to Ethan, laughing a bit.

"Yeah. She does sound the part." He agreed.

"It actually happens when she's kind of stressed out. After her mother died, she was singing all the time."

"That's actually a pretty good way to relieve stress." Ethan commented. "Better than punching a wall."

Hershel chuckled. "Yep."

'Adapt to survive…' Madison thought. 'I might as well do that, or just find out how I can get Rosita to stop hating me…shouldn't we all be working together in times like this?'

While Madison was thinking, something was sneaking up behind her. From under the porch, a hand grabbed her ankle.

She jerked her ankle, not wanting whatever was there to take her. "Guys!" She pointed this out without flinching at first, but then did when she saw the hand and heard a growl. Another one popped up, grabbing her other foot, knocking her over.

Ethan was quick to notice, and shot at the growls.

A katana sliced at the hands, and a machete was swung.

But then...the boards beneath Madison broke, and she fell into the open space.

"Lemme go!" She yelled, kicking at whatever was pulling her.

A walker popped out, and held her down on the ground, mouth open and ready to bite. The model, in a fit of courage, threw the walker off of her making sure not to touch its teeth. It snarled and grabbed her hands. It wasn't giving up without a fight. The model kicked the walker in an attempt to have it let go. She wasn't going to give easy, either.

Then, Madison felt a blinding pain in her chest, and saw Rosita's gun aimed at her. The walker was off her, with a bullet hole through its head. And oh, how Madison was feeling it.

Then, next thing she knew, Ethan was carrying her upstairs, and Hershel had medical supplies bundled up in his arms. The conman was pretty confused and a little angry at what had happened, but he had to keep his cool. First thing tomorrow he was going out on his own to get any leads on his dad's location. He was going to lose his mind with this conflict going on if it kept up.

Rosita looked at Danny silently. "Um…."

"Don't. Say anything." The bartender bluntly responded.

"But...I..I didn't…"

"Didn't what?" He now asked.

"I didn't mean to." Rosita whispered. Abe was glaring at Danny.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Could you please tell me what really happened down there?"

"I tried to shoot the walker. That's it. I didn't expect the bullet to make it to her too." she stammered.

"Well, that walker must have had a weaker skull than others." He sighed.

Rosita looked away, towards Madison and frowned.

"You know, I don't know what was going on between you two, but I know now that your heart was in the right place." Danny sympathized. "I just hope Mad will be alright and realize that too…"

"I doubt it." Rosita growled. "She's stuck-up."

"Just saying...it'd be better to die happy than die with a grudge." He frowned.

Ethan set Madison down on the bed upstairs and Hershel gestured Danny over. The bartender walked on over.

Madison wasn't moving, and looked quite pale.

"She's gone...isn't she?" Danny asked, looking depressed.

"I don't know, unfortunately." Hershel frowned, checking her pulse. It was still there, just not as strong as he would want it.

Rosita walked out of the room, and Beth followed her. Danny prayed for the model to come through, and he left the room to go talk with Ethan.


	4. New Clues

Ethan pulled the door open and gestured Danny to the couch downstairs. "What's on your mind?"

The two sat down together. Danny sighed.

"Maddy again?" Ethan thought aloud.

"Yeah, and it sucks. I know what happened, Rosita and I are cool, but maybe…"

Danny shook his head. "No. There's no way Rosita would kill someone not infected."

"Damn right I wouldn't." Rosita shuffled over at sat in the chair facing them.

"I knew that too." Ethan bluntly said. "Only people who have really crossed the thin

white line would do that."

She nodded. "Look...I'm really, really sorry."

"And you've been forgiven already." The bartender reassured. "I just can't help but pray for Maddy's health."

"I just hope she makes it..." Rosita sighed. "God, if she doesn't, I'm not gonna be able to live with myself.

"You wanna do something to take our minds off it?" Ethan offered.

"Like what?" Rosita asked.

"I don't know. Something. Anything."

Suddenly, a few shouts came from upstairs.

"Like that?" Danny pointed upstairs.

"Yeah. That." Ethan simply answered.

Rosita bolted upstairs. "Guys, come quick." Both men followed after her, not questioning it.

When they looked through the doorway, they saw Hershel hovering over Madison, performing CPR.

"Oh you're kidding me." Ethan frowned. Danny immediately rushed over.

"Stay with me, Madison." Hershel muttered. "Stay with me." Beth stood next to him, holding a bucket.

She would be gasping for air, desperate to hold on. Maggie looked away, clutching her hand over her mouth, as did Ethan. Danny winced at this, looking rather disturbed by this.

"It's not looking good." Hershel whispered, a bit too loudly. For a second, the room was frozen. Then, Danny's whimpers were what cut the silence.

"Is she…" Ethan slowly wondered.

"I don't know." Hershel panted.

"Same." The con-man sighed.

Rosita looked over at Danny. "I'm sorry..."

"You don't. Have to repeat yourself." The bartender tearily replied.

"Least we could do is bury her." Ethan suggested, confirming the worst.

Rosita and Maggie glared. Danny however, slowly nodded in agreement.

"I-I think it's what Maddy would want." He said.

"We don't even know that she's 100% gone." Rosita harshly stated. Just then, Hershel spoke up. "I got something…"

"Disregard that last statement then." Ethan stepped back. Madison was indeed still alive!

Her eyes fluttered open. "Hey guys…" She weakly got out.

Hershel whispered something to Beth, then said: "Ok, we're going to have a supply run. Who wants to go to the hospital with Beth?"

"I will." Danny quickly said.

"If he's going, I am too." Ethan added.

"Ok then." Hershel said. "Off you go."

Beth led the men outside to a beat-up Mustang. "Who's gonna drive?"

Ethan raised his hand.

Beth threw the keys to him. "I call shotgun."

Danny didn't care sitting in the back as Ethan caught the keys, getting in the driver's seat.

Beth directed Ethan the 30-minute drive to the hospital, and pointed at the parking lot. "There."

Ethan slowly parked in there, making sure that all the doors wouldn't be blocked later.

The hospital was quite empty. Beth led them to a medicine cabinet, and pulled out some painkillers and heart medications. Danny and Ethan were watching her back and sides to make sure she wouldn't get jumped by walkers.

"Danny, mind getting that wheelchair?" Beth asked, pointing to a stray wheelchair propped up against the wall. She then looked down, frowning.

The bartender wasted no time grabbing it. "Is it about Mad and Rosita again?"

Beth whispered, "Maddy. I hate to break it to you..."

Beth nodded, and Danny just shook his head.

"I know Rosita was trying to save her, I really do. I don't know what they had between them, but here's the thing. You never know who will really have your back when you lose everything. This apocalypse is that thing the way I see it."

"Well," Beth whispered, "she's gonna be paralyzed...for the rest of her life. Is she really gonna be able to deal with that?"

"As long as she's still alive, I'll still be optimistic she'll pull through." Danny responded. "I'll still love her the same."

"Well, let's go then." Beth muttered, pointing to the cafeteria.

The three gathered up a pile of canned food and drinks. Both men didn't say anything after that, and were more focused on collecting supplies.

Beth brought out a large bag to put the supplies in. After 20 minutes of heaving and dumping large boxes of food and medicines, they were ready to go.

Ethan was ready to head out, going back to the Mustang.

Beth and Danny loaded the supplies and wheelchair into the back, then took their seats. Once they were in, Ethan drove back to the base.

Beth took the wheelchair inside, while the two men carried the supplies in. Both guys were just thinking about what to do next, mainly concerning the apocalypse.

Beth jogged over to them. "Dad said Madison's sitting up and eating. She's progressing quicker than we expected."

"I did tell her to adapt to survive...seems she's taken my advice." Ethan mused. Danny was elated to say the least.

The three went inside, and saw Madison, propped up against a pillow, being fed some soup by Rosita. Ethan was going to say something, but opted not to.

Hershel rolled the wheelchair into the room, and a look of horror came over Madison's face.

"Something wrong, Mad?" Danny inquired. Then he remembered. "Oh yeah…"

"On the plus side, he still loves you the same." Ethan added.

Rosita glared at Ethan.

"It's true." The con-man informed. "Dan's just an optimistic fellow."

Rosita shook her head, then returned her attention to taking care of Madison. With that, Ethan just went to the place he was sleeping, looking over the research notes they found a while back. 'C'mon, there's gotta be something in here…' He thought to himself.

Suddenly, a unusual looking paper dropped out of the bottom of the folder. Curious, Ethan began to examine this paper. It was written in some type of code, but somehow, Ethan understood it perfectly. Several terms were highlighted, such as 'Atlanta, Georgia'. There was also a bolded name that was highlighted…

….Hershel Greene. And the con-man's eyes widened. He didn't say anything, but he didn't know what to say. Judging off the rest of the text, Hershel being highlighted was not a good thing.

'Oh god Hershel, what are you hiding?' Ethan thought to himself. 'Just...what?'

Just then, Beth appeared behind him.

He turned around. "Hey Beth." Ethan greeted.

"What is that?" Beth stammered.

Ethan was quiet. He felt he could trust Beth with this. "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

"Maybe." Beth muttered. "...Yes."

So with that, Ethan went and told Beth what he learned from this paper. And how there might be a lead in Atlanta.


	5. Prison

"What? What the hell do you mean? Don't do that. Don't make this kinda stuff up. It's not funny," Beth grumbled, "Where are you getting these ideas?"

"I'm getting these ideas from this." Ethan decided to show Beth the paper. "Forgive me if you can't read the code." He pointed to some parts, deciding to decipher them for Beth.

"How can my dad be involved in this? This is something out of a fantasy story. I don't understand. And...how do you know what all this says?" Beth asked.

"I read about this kind of thing once. I memorized this cipher." He explained, stretching the truth very subtly. "And that's what I want to know. Although...I don't know if we should go to him with this."

"No way. He'd freak out. Probably kick you and your group out, even Madison. I don't like hiding things from him, but she'll die out there without him." Beth sighed.

Ethan began formulating a plan. "Okay...we need to come up with a way to get to Atlanta without him knowing." He let out a sigh as well, seeing this as a tall order. "I don't want to believe he's mixed up in this, but the only way to know for sure is to go there."

"I don't know. Maddy can't drive. I can't either. He's too suspicious of you and the new people. Maggie would tell him. That only leaves Danny. I'm just afraid he doesn't want to leave Madison." Beth spoke.

"We'd have to tell him." Ethan suggested. "And keep Maggie from squealing."

"Ok...how do we do that? Come on Beth, think. Think." She spoke to herself. "Maggie's been so overprotective ever since my mother died. I don't know how to do that."

"...What if, we tell them we got a distress signal, and we follow up on that?" Ethan suddenly suggested. "It's a last minute thing, but it's the only plan I got."

Beth grinned a little. "Wow, you're a smart guy. Never would've thought of it myself. Okay, we can try that. Hopefully no one follows us there. We should probably check on the others before we leave though, especially Danny. I hope he's coping."

"I'm hoping the same thing, too. Dan feels like a brother I've never had." The con-man went to go see his buddy. It turns out that while he was still shaken up over the developments, he seemed to be doing alright. Madison was asleep on their bed, her breath faint, but definitely there.

Danny sighed a little seeing Ethan in the doorway to their room. "Hey." His voice trembled a bit.

"Hey back." He responded. "How's Maddy?"

"She's doing better." Danny replied. "She's breathing, heart beating. Hershel says her oxygen levels are a bit low, but she's surviving. I just can't believe she won't ever walk again. She hasn't even really processed it yet."

"I do hope she's taken my advice- adapt to survive. If she can do that, I would be proud." Ethan reassured. "It's what I've done for about...half my life."

"Ethan…" Danny sniffled. "Will you talk to me?"

"Yeah. My ears are open." He wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulders. "I'm here for ya."

Danny sighed. "Truth is, I'm terrified. How is she gonna be able to survive... _them_? Those things out there. What if something happens? Say we're out and they're after us. If she falls out of her wheelchair or something. What if I can't get to her? I can't live without her." A tear rolled down his cheek.

Ethan frowned, but was sympathetic to his friend. "Look Dan...I've been living at odds with these things longer than you have, and I can safely tell you that the world, while it's going to hell, it doesn't have to stay that way. She's got us, alright? She's in the best hands out in this world." He spoke. "I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Ever since we met in the bar, after that...lady...turned to a walker, I decided then and there you were one of the guys I wanted with me in the end. When you mentioned Maddy? Same deal with her. I would never think about abandoning you two no matter what. At this point...you guys are my only family."

Danny nodded his head. "Thank you. So, um...what now? What are you gonna do?"

"Try and find a way to end this madness." Ethan admitted. "Y'know how they say they're going to find the cure? It's a tall order...but I'm willing to put my neck on the line for my family. So they can have the best life they can."

"You're a great guy, Ethan." Danny smiled. "You know that?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I know."

Just then, Beth walked in. "Hey Danny. So, um...we're gonna go…"

Danny looked up at this. "Go? Go where? Ethan...can you please explain?"

"The story goes is we got this signal from other survivors. Beth and I were going to go check it out." Ethan answered.

"Oh...should I come?" Danny inquired.

Beth bit her lip. "Ethan, what do you think?" He paused for a moment, then asked,

"Only if you really want to. I'm sure that Maddy will be alright."

Just then, Madison fluttered awake. "Hey guys."

"Morning, Madison." Ethan warmly greeted. Danny hugged Madison.

"So, what's been going on since I've been out?" Madison asked.

"Well...not much, to be honest." The con-man answered.

"Ok. Honey, is there anything to eat here? I haven't had a meal since...wow, not since I was at the department store waiting for you to show up." Madison groaned.

"Beth, can you get her something?" Ethan requested.

"Sure, we have some oatmeal somewhere." Beth answered as she left to go find Madison some food.

Danny patted Madison's hand. "So, Ethan and Beth here are gonna go out to find some survivors who sent out a distress call. Um...shall I go with, or do you want me to stay here with you?"

Madison sighed. "Um..y'know Ethan told me to adapt to survive, so I'm gonna do that. I think I can handle being on my own for a bit. So, go out there, and help whoever needs your help." Madison smiled, then hugged Danny.

"Ok, that settles it," Danny spoke, "I'm coming with you, I guess." He stood up and shook Ethan's hand.

"Got it." Then to Madison, the con-man said, "And I'm proud of you, you know that? I'm sure Dan feels the same."

"Thank you. And be safe. Please bring Danny back in one whole piece, okay?" Madison chuckled.

"Can do." He agreed.

Soon, Danny, Ethan and Beth had packed up a small bag of supplies and were driving to Atlanta. Ethan continued to decipher the note in the back seat.

Danny heard Ethan muttering to himself and turned around. "What in the world are you doing back there?"

"I'm cracking a code." Ethan answered. "Might help us get that better life we desire."

"Oh...so, um, where's the distress call from?" Danny asked.

"It's somewhere in Atlanta…" He answered truthfully.

Soon, Danny pulled into a parking lot. He sighed "Is this it?"

Beth nodded. "Yep, we're here.

The three got out of the car, and approached the entrance. The building had a sign that read 'Central Atlanta Prison'.

"Are you kidding me? It came from a prison?" Danny sighed in frustration. "I don't want to go in there. Too dangerous."

"You'll be fine with me." Ethan reassured. "Besides, there might be some other people holed up in here."

Danny sighed deeply. "Well, here goes nothing."

Beth opened the door. "It smells like..I don't know," she gagged, "it just smells really bad. Smells like death." Ethan was quiet as they went in.

They continued on. Their footsteps echoed through the hallway, the place seemed to be abandoned. However, the con-man was on alert. He felt that there were people inside...he didn't know where.

Suddenly, Beth tripped on something. She screeched as she hit the ground face-first. Ethan noticed a brick on the ground. It seemed to be...tied to something else, as he could see a thin rope trailing off of it. Wasting no time, he rushed to get Beth up. And he would find out that he had saved Beth from…

...a fatal, hidden trap. Up above, he saw a spear-looking object zooming down, straight towards Beth's head. He pushed her away instantly. The long, thin sword pierced the ground, throwing small bits of stone from the floor in several directions.

"Ow...what the hell?" Beth muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"This is a sign that someone is here." Ethan spoke. "You're welcome, by the way."

Beth sighed. "Thanks for saving me from premature death."

Behind them, Danny quivered. "I don't like this."

"Stay close to me, then." Ethan told him.

"No," Danny hissed rapidly, "we need to get out of here. Something's not right."

The trio then saw three shadows step out at the other end of the hallway.

"Are these the people you're looking for?" Danny asked, his voice trembling.

Ethan gave a confident nod. "Correct." He slowly approached the shadows.

"Who's there?" A female voice spoke.

"The name's Ethan. These are my friends, Danny and Beth." He introduced.

A burly shadow of about Ethan's height stepped into view.

"Oh god. There's four of them." Beth shook next to Ethan. The burly shadow soon revealed himself as a light brown skinned man about Ethan's height. He had short black hair and soft blue eyes. Muscular in appearance, he wore a guard's uniform and black boots.

"Good to see you're not one of them." The man spoke. "Brett Brownstone. Pleased to meet you."

He shook hands with Ethan and Beth. Danny hid behind them.

Another two shadows shuffled forward. A pale woman with short brown hair appeared wearing an orange jumpsuit and very out-of-place red heels. Next to her was a tall, sleek woman, with a noticeable tattoo on her face, and purple hair hidden behind her in a bun. She wore a black tank top and jeans, along with dark brown combat boots.

"Hello." The pale woman spoke. She had a heavy Dutch accent.

"Nice heels." Ethan commented.

She blushed. "Thank you. I'm Alida Louise. And you are?"

"Ethan Gold. Office worker in the grand machine that is society." He greeted in kind. "My friends are Danny Scotch, bartender, and Beth who…" He turned to her. "Medical worker, right?"

"Nurse in training, I guess." Beth giggled.

Alida smiled. "Oh, that's nice. I'm a convict, charged with three counts of armed robbery."

Beth's mouth gaped. "What?"

"I'm also a psychopath by government law." Alida spoke. "Quite an interesting life. The mental asylums haven't been much fun though."

"Okay, stay really close to me." Ethan whispered to Danny.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Brett rolled his eyes. "Makes no sense keeping you locked up…"

Beth raised her eyebrows. "What? Um, so...how long have you been here? Is the purple hair girl a prisoner too?"

Alida shook her head. "Nope, just me. She and her husband are refugees, so to speak."

"I see…" Ethan nodded.

A man with a purple mohawk and trimmed red beard walked up to the group and waved with a friendly smile on his face. 'Hi there. Mickey. Mickey Gomez." Ethan introduced himself the same way he did the other few times already.

Danny finally spoke up. "What are we doing? We don't have time for formal introductions anymore."

"Right, we're glad you came around." Brett spoke. "We've been wondering if anyone else was out there…"

"Yeah, there's a few of us." Beth replied.

"There any more?" The guard inquired. "I sure hope so."

"We'd have to find them, I guess." Ethan said. "I've been meaning to ask you guys something if that's alright."

The four nodded. "Mhm." Alida added.

"Okay, this seems random...but...does the name 'Hershel' mean anything to you guys?" Ethan asked. Brett thought about it.

"Hmm…" He thought.

Mickey shook his head. "Cass?" His wife shook her head too.

Alida spoke, "Unless he was a prisoner at one point, I don't think so."

"I see...well, it was worth a shot." Ethan shrugged. "Do you mind coming with us? Strength in numbers after all."

"I'm down with that." Mickey spoke. "Brett? Alida?"

"Sure, why not." Alida let out a weird giggle.

"Absolutely." Brett was in agreement.

"One problem." Beth spoke up. "How are we gonna...get back? There's too many of us."

"There's a prison bus the four of us can take back." Brett spoke up. "I can drive it back."

And with that, the group got into their vehicles, and headed back to the house. Ethan thought to himself about why the paper mentioned Atlanta if this lead was a dead end...but regardless, he would keep working back at the house to find out what was going on.


	6. Developments

The car and prison bus were headed down a small shortcut back to the area where the house was. Ethan, Danny and Beth were in the car conversing.

"Okay, I'm still deciphering, and I don't think Hershel is in the wrong here." Ethan spoke to Beth.

"What? What have you been able to get from it so far?" Beth inquired.

"Well, whoever sent out this order clearly doesn't like him." Ethan answered. "So he's not guilty of anything…"

"Yeah. My dad has had his moments. A lot of people he's worked with in business don't like him, and the neighbors don't- well, didn't care for him all that much. But he's not a criminal or anything." Beth replied.

"In times like this, it doesn't matter who your neighbors were. Every life counts." Ethan spoke.

Beth nodded. "Wait..is that Dad's car? What is it doing parked in front of the house? He never uses it anymore."

"This doesn't look good." Danny grimaced.

"You said it, Dan." Ethan agreed. "Well...better see what this is about."

The three got out of the car, and approached the beat-up Mustang. Behind them, the prison bus came to a screeching halt. Brett looked at the others, clearly confused.

"Why'd we stop?" The guard wondered, leaning out of the bus door.

Beth pointed to the car. "We have company."

Soon, a brown-haired girl with tan skin stepped out of the car. "Beth, what are you doing?" A voice screeched. It was Maggie.

"Maggie, if you would let me explain." Ethan decided to handle this.

"Why did you leave? And what are you doing with my sister?" Maggie shouted.

"Okay, first of all, calm down." Ethan responded. "And secondly, to answer your question, we had business to do in Atlanta. The bus you see behind us had survivors at the prison there, so we decided to go get them."

Maggie glared at Beth. "And you, young lady, why did you think it was okay to invite yourself along?"

Beth gulped. "I-I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to leave. Maggie, I'm old enough to take care of myself now."

"Look, she's fine. No bites, no injuries, nothing." Danny pointed out. "If she was, we would all be in a panic."

Maggie made a quick movement, and soon had a gun pointed at the bartender's head. "Get. Out."

"Maggie, put the gun down." Ethan frowned, standing in front of his friend. "I had hoped for a peaceful solution to this. Not this kind of violence."

"Well, it's hard to be peaceful when someone just died fifteen minutes ago. And it could've been prevented if we had more people here to help!" Maggie growled.

"And can you blame us for not knowing this would happen?" Ethan pressed. "In case you haven't noticed, no one here is psychic. We couldn't have predicted this would've happened. If I could have, I would've dropped everything and did something about it."

"Well, it's too late. Madison's dead." Maggie spoke.

Ethan paused, seeing Danny in shock. "Interesting...where was Rosita when this happened?"

"Why does that matter?" Maggie asked. "I don't know, I think she was in the kitchen with Dad." However, the con-man was having none of it.

"...You were concerned about your sister this whole time, weren't you?" He questioned. "Every moment we were gone was a moment you were worrying about her, right?"

"Of course. As soon as I couldn't find her or you two, I imagined the worst." Maggie quivered.

"I understand." Ethan was sympathetic. "If I had a sibling, I'd be worried about them in times like this. I can see why you would be so nervous about losing someone you love." Then he asked, "Maggie, Madison really isn't dead, is she?"

Maggie paused. "No...no, she isn't. I just wanted someone else to feel what I've been experiencing for the past..god, two hours. It's not okay for someone to go through that."

"That's true. And I'm really sorry you had to suffer through that. I should've said something to you." Ethan apologized. "Now please, put the gun away. We don't need to kill someone over a 'what if'."

Maggie dropped the gun. Soon, the prison bus group had gotten off the vehicle and was surrounding the group.

"What's going on here?" Alida said with a giggle.

"Maggie here was worried about her sister." Danny answered her. "And...we got into a little spat."

Alida grinned. "Darn, I missed it."

Mickey pointed at the house. "Is this the place?"

"Yes, it is." Ethan answered.

"Nice place you got here." Brett complimented.

"Thank you." Beth blushed while Maggie said nothing.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Alida asked. "The prison beds sucked."

"We can make arrangements for these people, right?" Ethan asked Maggie.

"Yes. We have a spare bedroom that you guys didn't use up. Me and Beth share a room, Dad has one, Ethan has our air mattress, Danny and Madison have a room, and Abe and Rosita sleep on the couch. The others sleep in the attic."

"Um, Mickey and Cassandra can take the spare bedroom." Danny spoke.

"What about Alida and Brett?" Beth asked.

"I don't mind where I sleep." Brett told her. "I'm a simple man."

"We have a pull-out mattress in the dining room for some reason. Dad thought it was just a basic couch. So, Alida and Brett can have it." Maggie answered.

"Is that fine with you?" Brett looked towards Alida.

The woman nodded. "Perfectly."

"Alright. Now we just wait to see how the others react to this…" Ethan was a bit wary of how they would take it. But hopefully they'd take it well.

The reaction was rather good. Hershel was a bit reluctant, but eventually accepted it. Rick and his group were fine with it. Madison thought that with new people would come new ways of thinking, which for all she knew would be a good thing or not.

As night came, the group gathered around the table for dinner. It was rather difficult to fit all sixteen of them. But somehow, they had managed to make it work.

The table was set with meatloaf, green beans, buttered rolls, and chocolate ice cream, all courtesy of Madison and Rosita.

"Well, here we are. This merry band of sixteen survivors." Madison mused.

"Maybe it'll stay sixteen. Probably not." Alida giggled in a bizarre way.

"Time will tell, Alida." Ethan responded.

"So, what's the plan? What now?" Beth asked. "There's so many of us, it's gonna get chaotic."

"I'll think of something." Ethan promised. "For now, we let things play out as are…"

And play out they would. After the meal, most went to their designated sleeping places. Madison, Rosita and Mickey washed dishes, while Hershel, Brett and Daryl sat out on the porch. It was pitch dark out, except for a small light on the porch giving some ability to see.

"So gentlemen...what to do now…" Brett wondered.

"Well, for now, we can at least try to improve things around her. Get some defense for the walkers, maybe put that shed to better use." Hershel replied.

"I'm used to night shifts." Brett suggested. "Perhaps I could be a lookout?"

"That would be quite helpful." Daryl said. "Maybe I can help out with that too."

"I'll take first shift." The guard agreed. "You're fine with second shift?"

Daryl nodded. "What about day guards? Rick, maybe?"

"That'll work." Brett spoke. "If that's okay with Rick."

"I'm sure it will be." Daryl replied. Just then, a drunken Abe stumbled outside.

"Hey-hey guys. There's..um, some-something outside. Me and Rosie saw it from...uh, the window. The one upstairs." Abe slurred.

"Daryl, I think we ought to check this out." Brett had a shotgun ready.

Daryl picked up his crossbow. "Indeed."

The two walked out front, seeing nothing but darkness.

Brett fished around in his pockets. "I think I have a flashlight or something like that…" He said.

"There's a little light on my bow, but it's not much." Daryl spoke.

"Might as well give it a try." The guard shrugged.

Daryl flicked the light on, slightly illuminating the ground in front of them. Twenty feet away or so, the two saw a cluster of shadows.

"What's that?" Daryl asked. Brett waited for the shadows to come closer before deciding on a course of action.

The twenty or so shadows staggered forward.

"Walkers…" Brett guessed, priming his shotgun for action.

"Fire!" Daryl whispered. A walker fell as Daryl's first arrow struck it.

The two were able to wipe out the wave pretty fast. Soon, three men approached them.

"State your names and business." Brett demanded, but wasn't too mean about it.

Brett and Daryl heard a pair of rapid footsteps behind them. "What's all the commotion?" A voice shouted.

"Ethan?" Brett curiously asked. "Walkers were here, then these men showed up."

"At this hour?" The con-man blinked, letting his eyes adjust. Then he paused. "Oh, no…"

"What?" Daryl inquired.

"Take him out!" One of the men shouted, obviously talking about Ethan. That guy got a shotgun stock to the side of the head, courtesy of Brett. Ethan wasted no time shouting,

"No time for questions, just take them down, please!"

Daryl and Brett fired rapidly. One more got knocked down by Daryl. but the other drew out a rifle, and shot Daryl square in the forehead, then soon had the same done to him by Brett.

"Daryl!" Ethan exclaimed, running over to his fallen friend.

Daryl rolled around on the ground in pain. His forehead was bloodied, but Daryl was responsive, unlike the fallen enemies.

"Okay, who are these guys?" Brett demanded an answer from Ethan as he pressed a hand to Daryl's forehead. "Only someone who really loves the Second Amendment or is in some sort of military unit would have these kind of weapons."

"...They're likely after this letter I've been decoding." Ethan answered. "But now's not the time for this. Daryl's hurt, and he needs help. Get him inside, and I'll explain everything to you later."

"You got it." The guard wasted no time doing that. Soon, Ethan was heading back in a hurry, fearing there might be more of these people.

Later, Daryl would soon be tended to by the others while a few others were conversing about what was going on.

Mickey and Ethan stood nearby Daryl, while Madison sat next to them in her wheelchair.

"So, what in the hell happened out there?" Mickey asked.

"Some strange men were after Ethan, and one of them shot Daryl. I paid the sonuvabitch back in kind." Brett answered as he sat next to Daryl. Hershel, Beth and Cassandra were taking care of him.

"That's odd. Why would anyone be after you, especially in this time?" Madison inquired.

"To be honest with you Maddy, it's likely to do with this letter that I found a while ago." Ethan responded honestly. "They were likely after Hershel too…"

"Why would they be after him?" Brett was confused.

"Lemme just write out the finishing touches…" Ethan quickly finished the deciphering. "And maybe we'll get some answers." Soon after, Ethan had finished what he needed to do with the letter.

"And what does it say?" Madison was listening.

"Okay...executive order, a couple corporate keywords here and there...yeah, standard stuff." Ethan then went wide eyed. "This isn't just an executive order. This is a hit!"

"A hit? Like a bounty?" Brett was stunned with this development.

"Yeah. On me and Hershel. Though I don't know what they'd want with him, but odds are he was against them." The con-man told them.

Hershel walked over. "I heard my name? What's going on?"

Ethan paused, quiet at first. He then wordlessly showed him the letter, his expressions and body language speaking for him.

"Oh dear…" Hershel spoke. "This is not good. Not good at all. How did they find out I was here?"

"I want to help you." Ethan broke his silence. "I really do. From the very beginning when I first met you, I knew deep down that you were a good man. Obviously something they did made you go against them. And for that, I thank you."

"Yes, I did. Me and a few others, we tried to leave. Me and one other were able to go under the radar. But they kept the others. Heard they tortured them, kept them as minions." Hershel sighed. "It's a shame, really."

"There is always chance for atonement." Madison reassured him. "Because...I don't know exactly what they had you do, but I can forgive you."

"Thank you. What they made us do...Horrible things. It's why Maggie's mother left me. My daughters never found out though. They'd never forgive me if they did." Hershel spoke.

"Maybe not when you first tell them, but in due time they just might." Ethan told him. "Now...where do you suppose they could be at? The experimenters."

"Our original base was in Atlanta. They trusted me to listen in on some meetings. I heard they planned of moving over to Decatur. Not very far from Atlanta." Hershel informed.

"Are we all gonna go, or?..." Madison wondered.

"Hmm...I'm not sure. Lemme think about that in slumber. Because I am still tired…" Ethan let out a long yawn.

"So, it's settled. We're going to Decatur. We ought to head to bed, but we'll get a plan tomorrow." Hershel spoke.

And with that, the sixteen survivors went to sleep, and a plan was in the making.


End file.
